8.1 Discount Handling
While service providers may use different terms and mechanisms to describe and represent discounts in their native datasets, FOCUS represents discounts as reduced pricing reflected directly in the charges they pertain to, rather than as separate offsetting charges. Unlike discounts, credits are financial incentives or allowances represented as separate charges unrelated to other charges.
In Cost and Usage, cost and unit price columns reflect the effect of discounts. Discounts associated with contract commitments are further identified and attributed using the Contract Applied column (also serves as an association to the Contract Commitment dataset), as well as commitment discount-specific columns. Custom columns may be used when needed to further identify or describe discounts.
For additional context and related normative requirements associated with discount handling, refer to the following specification sections:
| Concept | Description | Entity | Specification Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| General dataset rules | Handling unused portions, splitting discounted charges, and avoiding negating rows | Dataset | CostAndUsage |
| Effect of discounts | Reflecting reduced pricing from discounts | Column | CostAndUsage.BilledCost CostAndUsage.EffectiveCost CostAndUsage.ContractedCost CostAndUsage.ListCost CostAndUsage.ContractedUnitPrice CostAndUsage.ListUnitPrice |
| Commitment Discount specifics | Identification and utilization of commitment discounts | Column | CostAndUsage.CommitmentDiscountId CostAndUsage.CommitmentDiscountStatus |
| Resource tracking | Identifying the exact resource that received the commitment discount | Column | CostAndUsage.ResourceId |
| Contract allocations | Associating a charge with specific contract commitments | Column | CostAndUsage.ContractApplied |